Papua Badboy Mattheis Dreams of Winning ONE Title One Day

Adrian Mattheis poses after the win in Jakarta in late September. (Photo courtesy of ONE Championship)

Jakarta. Adrian “Papua Badboy” Mattheis is confident he can win ONE Championship title someday as he reflects some points from his latest win in Jakarta.

Mattheis won by technical knockout over fellow Indonesian Angelo Bimoadji at ONE: CONQUEST OF HEROES held at Jakarta Convention Center on Sept. 22.

Bimoadji, a champion of local mixed martial art tournament Garuda Fight League, made his debut at ONE at the time and was suddenly welcomed by a flying guillotine attempt at the start.

His opponent Mattheis then tried to work his way to a choke, but Bimoadji reversed positions. With his heavy punches at 2:41 in the first round, Mattheis forced Bimoadji fell to the ground and made the referee Yuji Shimada stopping the fight eventually.

“Of course I am happy with that win,” Mattheis reflects his last match. “And it showed that my hard training regime paid off,” he adds.

The Papua Badboy, member of Tigershark Fighting Academy, now has 7-5 professional record with one winning streak since his last loss from Robin Catalan of the Philippines in July.

“I just keep training hard every day and keep dreaming of winning the ONE’s strawweight title. If they can win it, we [Indonesians] can do the same,” the 25-year-old says.

“I think I just need another three or four bouts to challenge the world champion,” he adds.

ONE’s current Strawweight Champion is the Philippines’ Joshua Pacio who now has a four-winning streak as he defeated former world champion Yoshitaka Naito of Japan at the same event on Sept. 22.

Pacio has a better record than Mattheis with 16 wins and two losses, something that the Papuan must put it as a signal to do more with hard work, as well as excellent training regime.

“I want a chance to go up against Joshua Pacio,” he says. “Getting to that match would have made all the work leading up to it worthwhile.”

Residing in Jakarta, Mattheis, who holds a degree in fisheries from a university in the capital, believes in prayer and efforts can help him achieving his target.

“My wins were gained because of discipline and training, but also there have been God’s roles,” the Papuan says.

“I believe that if God wants me to win, he will give me the win. And so, world champion title is not impossible,” he concludes.

Reporting and writing by Amal Ganesha for ONE Championship